In many cases, a pharmacy customer will order a prescription refill in advance of his or her visit to the pharmacy to pick up the refill. Generally, the customer's order will then be filled, packaged, and stored until the customer visits the pharmacy to pick up the order. Many pharmacies store such an order in a common area along with other customers' orders that have also been placed in advance of those customers' visits to the pharmacy.
Upon arriving at the pharmacy, the customer generally proceeds to a point of sale area, such as a prescription pick-up window, and identifies himself or herself to a pharmacy technician or other on-duty employee. The pharmacy technician then locates and retrieves the customer's previously prepared order from the common storage area. In some cases, the pharmacy technician may ask the customer for further verification of his or her identity before the pharmacy technician retrieves the customer's order. Additionally, in some cases, the pharmacy technician and customer may review information about the customer's refill, and/or information about the customer's insurance coverage The customer may then pay for and receive the refill.